Long drive to the basket for Wildcats recruit Norton

Camera IconPerth Wildcats recruit Mitch Norton has arrived in Perth after making the drive from Wollongong.Picture: Picture: Danella Bevis

Driving across the Nullarbor isn’t the standard mode of transport for elite athletes, but Perth Wildcats recruit Mitch Norton decided it was the best way to prepare for his new life in WA.

Norton joined his new teammates at training for the first time yesterday after signing a three-year contract to move from the Illawarra Hawks.

The 25-year-old and fiancee Sascha spent more than a week travelling across the country, having started at Wollongong.

“It took a little bit longer than expected,” Norton said. “But it’s great to finally be here and around this program. It was a pretty cruisy trip. Everyone made a big deal about the Nullarbor.

“I stayed at the old Nullarbor Roadhouse and it was a bit of an eye-opener. It was cool to make that trip, take it all in and realise where I was going.

“I was expecting desert and red sand everywhere, but it wasn’t too bad. There was an emu that kind of scared us. It looked like a bush walking. But it was a cool drive.”

Norton spent his initial session working with captain Damian Martin and hopes to make the most of the veteran point-guard’s knowledge.

The pair have already played together as part of the Australian Boomers and are keen to build a formidable combination to challenge the rest of the league. Perth’s other recruits, Nick Kay — also from Illawarra — and the returning Tom Jervis will arrive in Perth later this month.

Norton said the prospect of playing with Martin was one of the keys to luring him to Perth, but he was also buzzing with anticipation about joining Bryce Cotton.

Cotton dominated the 2016-17 grand final series against Illawarra, and was named the MVP after scoring 45 points in game three.

“I’m really looking forward to it,” Norton said.

“He’s a great player and he had 45 on Illawarra in the final. That was amazing. We threw everything at him but it didn’t seem to work. It’s pretty cool to have him on our team.

“Defending him every day is going to help me as a defender as well.”

Norton is part of the Boomers squad, but he didn’t play in the wild World Cup qualifier against the Philippines last week.

That match descended into a brawl and security concerns have been raised about Australia’s next set of matches against Qatar, Iran and Kazakhstan. But Norton said he trusted Basketball Australia to keep the players safe.